Cold sores are common and hence the home remedies for it are ample too. These traditional remedies are sometimes known to have worked just as good as the antiviral pills or numbing creams available in the market. And they have an edge over the market products too-the home remedies for cold sores do not await a prescription from a doctor or call for the need to go to a store and pick up an appropriate cream. You can start the treatment right away, as soon as you find out you are getting a cold sore. That is the best part in home-based treatments.



The cold sores can be treated in many ways-by taking in vitamins and supplements, by bringing some changes in the diet, by putting various kinds of remedial powders and juices to it or by just compressing the sore with ice. However, the many home remedies that are there for treating cold sores do not assure the same amount of relief or recovery-time. While some are proven to heal cold sores faster and better, others or the more remote ones may not show results at all.

Ice-compression on sores is, so far, the best and most effective home remedy available to cold sores for the numerous benefits it has. It is known that if ice cubes are pressed on the sore at its initial stage, it can restrict further growth by retarding the metabolic rate of the cold sore zone. It is usually advisable to ice-compress the sore for some minutes at an interval of every ten minutes over a few hours in a day. Ice checks the sore-size and thus stops the virus from spreading to other areas.

Another easy and common home remedy to treating cold sores is to rub aloe, lemon balm extracts or tea bags to the affected area. This also helps limit the size of the cold sore and soothes the pain. Some say that reducing coffee intake is yet another home remedial measure for the sores. Coffee is believed to aggravate the growth of cold sores. Hence, for those who are prone to getting cold sores, it is suggested that they refrain from drinking coffee as much as possible.

Many home remedies are known to work wonders for cold sores. And best part is that these are easy-to-do, fast-to-heal, and also quite affordable apart from being able to provide the much desired pain-relief from cold sores.